Fish fauna of Kodayar River, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The fish fauna of Kodayar river has been presented here based on an extensive survey and earlier reports. A systematic enumeration of fish fauna comprised 79 species representing eight orders, 23 families and 47 genera. The Kodayar river constitutes about 5.67 % to the endemic fish diversity of Western Ghats of India. Highest species diversity was observed in the order Cypriniformes and family Cyprinidae. The river supports 70.88 % of food fishes, 53.16 % of ornamental fishes, 29.12 % of cultivable fishes and 17.73 % of sports fishes. The threat status analysis of fishes revealed 10.13 % of species under threatened category of IUCN. The Kodayar river system supports diverse fish fauna worth for rural livelihood through capture, culture, aquarium or sports fishery.